Bailer



G. B. MCDONELL ET AL BAILER Filed NOV. 16, 1.920

Patented Mar. 6, 19 23..

career entice.

GEORGE BAN IVIGDONELL AND EDWARD L. PECK, OF IBARTLESVI'LLE, OKLAHOMA,ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO DOHERTY RESEARCH COMPANY, OF

NEW YORK, N. Y.

' BAILER.

Application filed" November 16, 1920. Serial No. 424,366.

To allwhomit may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE B. MoDoN- ELL and EDWARD L. PnoK, citizensof the United States, residing at Bartlesville, county of Washington,State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBailers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which is appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to bailers, and more particularly to the type ofbailers used'in the drilling of petroleumoil wells.

When drilling deep wells, the drillbit is usually Worked in water toassist inflremoving the cuttings and the materials set free by the bit.As the drilling; proceeds a mud or sludge is formed from the cuttingswhich is periodically removed from the well by a bailer. The bailercommonly consists of a cylindrical shell having a gravity operated checkvalve at the lower end arranged to be opened to admit liquid into thebailer when the bailer reaches the bottom ofthe well, and to trap liquidin the bailer as the bailer is lifted.

While drilling the upper sections of a well, and'especially when passingthrough relatively soft rock formation, regardless of the'seotion of thewell in which the formations occur, it is the best drilling practice touse a bailer having a diameter only slightly smaller than the diameterof the well, or the diameter of'the casing of the well. Such a bailerassists in keeping a straight vertical hole andprevents formation of theobstructions and irregularities in the side walls of the hole. The fullsize bailer is also-very effective for cleaning the bottom of the well.It often happens that a well contains large quantities of water and insuch a well the bailer is always lowered to the bottom of the well to befilled. When a filled bailer of the full size of the well is beinglifted out of the well, there is little opportunity for the water abovethe bailer to flow to the lower end of the bailer. Accordingly, thebailer acts as a piston to raise a large portion of the water trappedabove it, and this places a very heavy load on the hoisting engine. v fThe primary object of the present'invention is to provide a bailer bywhich liquid maybe readily conducted from a point above to'a point belowthe bailer, when the bailer is lifted in a body'of liquid with itstrapping valve closed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bailer having a crosssection of substantially the area and shape of the well in which it isbeing used, that will permit liquid to be bypassed through it when it isbeing lifted with the trapping valve closed.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in. theimproved bailer hereinafter described and particularly pointed out inthe claims.

The various features of the invention are illustrated inthe accompanyingdrawing in which; i

Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of a bailer embodying the preferredform of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the bailer shown in Fig. 1, the sectionbeing taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontalsection of the bailer taken on the line'33 of Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the bailer taken on the line 1-4; ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the bailer, illustrating variouslengths of bypass tubes which may be used in the bailer.

The bailer shown in the drawings has the same general form and size ofthe bailer ordinarily used in the drilling of petroleum oil wells. Thisbailer consists of an outer shell '10, having a. lifting bail 12 securedto its upper end, a shoe 14 secured in its lower end, and a check valve16 mounted over a valve seat 18 formed in the shoe. The check valve 16,commonly called a dart, is held by gravity upon the seat 18, and acts bygravity to trap liquid'within the shell 10 whenthe bailer is moveddownwardly within a body of liquid. At the time the bailer is loweredinto a well to be filled, the dart 16 first comes into the contact withthe bottom of the well, and .the continued downward movement of thebailer tends to lift the upper end of the dart from the valve seat 18,to permit the bailer to be filled with liquid.

It is apparent that if the shell 10 of the bailer had a cross-sectionalshape and area substantially the same as that of the well, and if thevalve 16 closed the entire bottom liquid trapped above the bailer. Sucha weight would place. a very heavy strain on an engine, and in manycases would prevent the; use of a bailer-having full size of the ho e.

To overcome these difiiculties and secure the advantages of the fullsize bailer for drilling, the bailer illustrated in the drawingsispro-vided with a bypass by which liquid trapped above the upper end ofthe bailer may flow to the lower end of the bailer. The bypass is largeenough to let the waterflow from above to below the bailer fast enoughto prevent the formation of a vacuum below the bailer as it is movedupwardly, so that while the bailer is moving through the liquid in thewell, itis buoyed upwardly by the liquid andxdoes not place a heavystrain upon the hoisting engine.

To this end a bypass channel 20 formed in the central portion of theupper end of the dart 16 leads from the top of the dart to points atoppositesides of the dart p sitioned below theportion of the dart whichcontacts with the valve seat 18. A bypass tube 22 is threaded into theupper end of the dart to enclose the opening 20, and extends toapproximately the upper end of the shell 10. To assist the dart 16 inmaking a liquid tight contact with the seat 18, the tube 22 is centeredin the shell by guides 24 whichloosely surround the tube. The tube 22isfixed in the dart and moves with the dart while itis opening andclosing the valve at the bottom of the shell 10. The outwardly flaringopenings at the bottom of the channel are specially designed to preventmud in the bottom of the well from closing the channel at the time thebailer is lowered into the well to be filled.

A bailer of the type shown in the drawings is preferably made in astandard length, such bailer being longer than the commonly used baileron account of the presence of the bypass tube 22 mounted within it. Thislength is determined by the amount of liquid which it may be. desirableto remove from the bottom of thewell at one time, and by the weight ofliquid which may be readily hoisted by a lifting motor. Also, the typeof mud or sludge in the bottom of the well and the mechanical conditionof, the hoisting motor may make it inadvisable to fill the 65 bailerto'its maximum capacity. The bailer bailer and its load and also acolumn of of the present invention is arranged to pro vide a variablelifting volume. To accom plish this tubes 22 of different lengths may beused, in order to trap any desired volume of liquid-within the bailer.-

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the tube 22 extends to substantiallythetop.of; the outer shell 10.

In Fig. 5 is shown a tube 22 which is shorter than the tubeshown in Fig.1, so that the volume of liquid which could be raised by the bailerShOWILiH Fig. 5' would be substantially less than that which could beraised by the bailer shown in F 1.

' In view of the construction illustrated above, a shell 10' of the fullsize of the well being drilled may be used for bailing a well, and whenthe filled bailer is lifted from the bottom of the well, the liquidabove the bailer will readily pass downwardly through tube 22 andchannel 20 to a point below the bailer. By this construction theheaviest torque for the lifting motor will not be placed upon the motoruntil the bailer emerges from'the surface of the liquid in the well.Further, the bailer has the same simplicity of construction as that ofthe usual bailer, and provides, an equipment which will not. readily getout of order.

/Vhile the bailer illustrated in the drawings is particularly adaptedfor use in drilling oil wells, it is obvious that it is not lim ited toany'su'ch use, but may be used for bailing liquid in any type of well orshaft.

The preferred form of the invention havin been thus described, what isclaimed as b o new 1s:

1. A bailer comprising, an. outer shell having a cross section ofsubstantially the same shape and area as the bore of the well in whichit is to be used, a lifting attachment for the upper end of the shell, avalve for trapping liquid in the shell when said shell is lifted, and abypass connected to said valve arranged to permit liquid to pass fromabove tobel'ow said shell when the shell is being lifted;

2. A bailer comprising, a shell, a valve for trapping liquid in theshell when such shell is lifted, and a tube extending from 1.15 saidvalve toward the upper end of said shell, said valve being provided withan opening leading from said. tube to! a point below the trapping seatof said valve.

3. A bailer comprising, an outer shell having a cross section ofsubstantially the same shape and area as the bore ofa wellin which it isto be used, a lifting attachment at the upper end of said shell, a valveseat at the lower end of said shell, a valve for trapping fluid in theshell above said seat, said valve having an opening therein extending.from above to below said valve seat, a tube 'clos- "ing the openin inthe upper end of said valve and movable with said valve.

4. A bailer comprising, a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper endof the shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell, and meansto permit the lifting volume of said shell to be varied.

5. A hailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper end ofthe shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell, a bypass insaid valve leading from the inside of the shell to a point of dischargebelow the seat of the valve, and means arranged to be placed incommunication with said bypass opening to vary the lifting volume ofsaid shell.

6. A hailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper end ofthe shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell and adapted toretain liquid in the said shell,

and means coacting with the said valve to limit the height of the liquidin the said shell.

7. A bailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment therefor, a liquidretaining valve having a passage therethrough, means con nected to thesaid valve to cause the same to open when the said means comes intocontact with the bottom of a well, a tube connected to the said valve soas to cut off communication with the said passage except through thetube, and means by which the height of the tube may be varied to changethe lifting volume of the said shell.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

EDWARD LAWRENCE PECK. GEORGE BAN MoDONELL.

